Open letter calls for evaluation of the current PAN leadership

An open letter signed by former PAN congresswoman Bebiana Cunha and other former leaders calls for an evaluation of the party's leadership "without fear of having to change," accusing the current leadership of deviating from "founding values."

In an open letter published online addressed to PAN members, supporters and leaders, the 35 signatories, including former leaders Anabela Castro, Nuno Pires, Miguel Queirós and Carolina Pia, emphasize that everyone “has their history within PAN” and recall the laying of the foundations of the People-Animals-Nature political project in 2009.

"The current leadership has been moving away from the PAN's founding values, systematically making decisions that contradict its origins and are incomprehensible to the party's principles. The choices being made are based on a logic of mere political survival strategy, in which the ends have come to justify the means," they criticize.

The signatories, including several who have resigned from the board in recent months, believe that the current leadership "does not face up to its own mistakes and failures" and has had a mandate marked "by internal disagreements, several political defeats, power struggles that have become more important than the party's mission, and a culture of distancing itself from internal criticism."

Regarding the local elections of October 12, the signatories point to "the absence of a coherent strategy", which results in "disparate coalitions, without ideologically understandable criteria, based on promises of positions or a lack of their own political projects".

"There are coalitions, natural in a democracy, that are acceptable, as they are formed with political forces whose values can converge with the PAN. However, coalitions with ideologically opposed and distant parties are completely incomprehensible, particularly those that allow environmental crimes or advocate the promotion of bullfighting," he said.

The PAN is part of coalitions with the PSD and the IL in Sintra and with these two parties and the CDS-PP, in Faro, for example.

The signatories make a collective appeal to stop and evaluate the current direction, "before it is too late and the PAN disappears or transforms into another political and social ideology."

"Without fear of having to change. We must remember that PAN is more than the sum of its members and that its ideology is more important than any kind of interests," they affirm.

The signatories assure that they remain "committed to PAN's values and mission in Portuguese society" and make what they call a "simple and ambitious appeal."

"Evaluate the path that has been charted, reposition the party within its ideological framework, both in strategic thinking and in its communication, and rebuild the PAN based on this assessment and sense of mission. Listen, with humility, to those who are still with us and those who have left because they don't see themselves in the current PAN," they ask.

And they pose a question: "Is PAN still faithful to the principles it claims to defend? Is PAN helping causes, or demeaning them?"

The open letter ends by asking that “all voices be heard — especially those that remain faithful to the original project and do not identify with the current direction.”

"We believe that a new path is possible and that the PAN can—and must—once again be the beacon that illuminates the future (...) Let us make ourselves heard, with the hope that the PAN can be fulfilled! It's time!" they urge.

On Saturday, faced with recent internal resignations, PAN spokesperson Inês Sousa Real considered that the departures were of people who were “not committed” to either her agenda or the party.